Spill the Tea

Since we live in such a gossipy, reality TV generation, I decided to create a lesson where students get to “spill the tea”. Think of “The Talk” or “The View” TV shows with historical figures. This lesson is always a hit and can be used on a variety of topics. Choose a moderator to host the “show”.

Here’s how it works:

Split your class into groups of 4-5 students for each “Topic”. You can do this by having students pick a tea bag out of a hat (ex: Peppermint, Roobios, Eucalyptus etc). The 4 students with Peppermint Tea bags are a group, the 5 with Roobios are a group and so on. Peppermint gets the topic of:
Roobios gets the topic of:
Etc.

Have your entire class sit in a circle (similar to a socratic seminar). The group sits in the center and has to spill the “tea” on a specific topic while the rest of the class takes notes.

For example: Topic Early Women’s Rights. Can you believe that Seneca Falls Convention? Why were women not included in that 15th amendment? I like how Elizabeth Cady Stanton took a more radical approach to women’s rights vs the conservative approach. Students can use accents or props to make it more fun!

At the end have the moderator summarize the “Hot Topics for the day”. If you’re lucky enough to have a longer class you can even combine this activity with my great cookie or holiday baking challenge for a fun filled day of food festivities!

Make sure to come back and “Spill the Tea” on your activity. Let me know how it went!

[…] SPEED NETWORK. Along with the marketing idea of Shark Tank, students should know how to “sell themselves”. Teach them how to make business cards and resumes of historical figures and do a speed round of networking. This will set them up for when its time to interview for college and other jobs! They should come dressed up as their character and stay in the character the entire period. Students LOVED this when I had them sit with figures from the Progressive Era and Gilded Age. Think Teddy Roosevelt sitting across from and chatting it up with John Muir or Jacob Riis. What kind of conversations would they they be having? Wrap it up by having students pick their favorite “date” for a follow up study session or a follow up lesson the next day of Spill the Tea! […]

[…] in Constitutional Conventions, Socratic Seminars, debates, mannequin challenges. You have spilled the tea, sang and danced, made pop up cards, painted murals, speed networked, sold an invention in the […]